Leaders of Sex Church Lose Bid to Halt Probe

Will and Mary Ellen Tracy, self-proclaimed leaders of a Los Angeles sex church, on Monday lost a federal court effort to prevent authorities from investigating what the Tracys say is an ancient Egyptian religion protected by the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge William M. Byrne refused to grant a preliminary injunction to bar police and the city attorney’s office from investigating or prosecuting the Canyon Country couple, who were convicted last September of operating a house of prostitution. They are free on bail pending appeal.

In requesting the injunction last fall, Mary Ellen Tracy said the couple hoped to stop police harassment that was denying her followers “spiritual guidance.” She has claimed to have had sex with 2,000 men as part of her duties as high priestess of the Church of the Most High Goddess. Authorities called the church a front for prostitution because men were required to make donations.